'The Vampire Diaries': 'The Murder of One' recap

Action, mythology, twists and possibly a game-changing revelation as well as moments between the central three characters - 'The Murder of One' is pretty much everything you'd want in a Vampire Diaries episode.

This week centres on Damon and Stefan bringing Elena, Caroline and Matt into their plan to slay the Originals, but naturally things are not that simple. Rebekah (Claire Holt) captures Damon early on and tortures him, while Klaus is keeping Bonnie hostage until she performs an unlinking spell. And Finn (Casper Zafer), reunited with Sage (Cassidy Freeman), has changed his mind about wanting to die.

It's telling how focused and intent Stefan is on ending Klaus that Damon's predicament doesn't deter him (though wouldn't killing an Original wipe out the others and save Damon anyway?). Stefan tries to justify his actions by saying it's what his brother would want him to do, but as he admits to Elena later on, Klaus has made him ignore everything around him. The amount of time and effort dedicated to trying to destroy Klaus is unhealthy for Stefan.

Which is why this was an important episode for Stefan. He realizes how this hatred has consumed him, and he has two rather amazing moments. Firstly, the fact that Stefan ended up saving his brother showed he sincerely cares about him. As an envious Rebekah states afterwards: "They would die for each other. At least they know what family means." The closeness of the Salvatore brothers hugely contrasts the sibling relationships of the Originals.

Secondly, after a fierce confrontation with Klaus, Stefan admits to Elena that he still loves her and shouldn't have pushed her away. That she now has feelings for Damon genuinely affects Stefan, and it's a vulnerable side that adds an extra layer to an already fascinating character.

Stefan did succeed in killing an Original, though - Finn takes a stake to the heart and dramatically burns up. Unfortunately (until we learn about the major twist), it happened moments after Bonnie unlinked the Originals.

I haven't been a fan of Bonnie recently, and between her weak stall tactics with Klaus and the breakdown after she's released, the events in this episode don't change my mind. Of course, the fact that she undid the binding worked in everyone else's favor in the end, but I wish she was just a more interesting character.

But at least Caroline was awesome - as usual. She had a lovely chat with Alaric as she revealed she knows he was the one who attacked her father. Instead of blaming and holding a grudge against him, Caroline follows Elena's example and chooses to believe Alaric can be saved from his dark alter ego.

The big thing about 'The Murder of One', though, is the potentially game-changing twist. After killing Finn, a seething Sage and her henchman burst into Stefan's place for revenge. Only, everyone is shocked when Sage and Troy start puking blood, drop to the ground and die, just like that.

It turns out that when you kill an Original, you destroy their entire bloodline. Finn turned Sage who turned Troy. Take out all of the Originals and you have a world without vampires.

What does this mean for our heroes? Well, Caroline was turned by Damon. The Salvatores were turned by Katherine. Katherine was turned by Rose. But who was Rose turned by? And even if Rose is not part of Klaus's bloodline, killing Klaus would definitely end Tyler's life...

The writers have thus far managed to do a fine job in keeping an antagonist like Klaus around without the feeling that they're dragging the story out, and this latest revelation could dramatically shuffle things. What if the Salvatores are forced to protect their nemesis?

All in all, 'The Murder of One' was a gripping installment that was entertaining throughout (though the AT&T product placement was a little distracting!). And I haven't even mentioned Damon's dream with Elena, Caroline's Buffy reference or another brief appearance from Jeremy. As the season finale approaches and with only four more episodes to go, there's bound to be more shocking turns in store. I'm absolutely dying to know who turned Rose and which Original they have to keep alive.

The episode ended with two white oak stakes remaining after Stefan gave the rest to Klaus. Only, Alaric doesn't know where his is because his dark alter ego moved it. That could be quite troublesome...